It Takes Two to Pokemon: A Nuzlocke Challenge
by UltimateShipper2009
Summary: Childhood acquaintances Riley and Jen set out together on their Pokemon journey, but what surprises await them beyond the familiar borders of Aspertia Town? A Pokemon White2 Blind Nuzlocke challenge. Co-written with Staxuin of deviantArt.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, all! This is a Blind Nuzlocke challenge a friend and I are writing together. You can find this story (and his specific Nuzlocke rules) on his dA under the username Staxuin.

Some quick definitions for the unaquainted are below.

Blind: Game is played without the use of guides and without previous knowledge of plot events. That means no knowledge of battles, dungeons, plot twists, anything of that ilk (with that in mind, please refrain from spoilers in any reviews you might leave!)

Nuzlocke: A set of additional rules for Pokemon games in order to increase the difficulty level. My co-writer is using more difficult rules, while mine are more basic. You can Google "Nuzlocke" for basic information but any relevant rules will be explained in-story

Phew, that takes care of the giant author's note. On to the story!

* * *

Endless blackness stretched as far as anyone could possibly see. The shadowy abyss was so absolute that not even one's hands could be seen. An odd feeling of warmth pervaded the place, it was comfortable; but it seemed a bit out of place. Distant sounds echoed distortedly as they penetrated the blackness. One repeated sound in general particularly stood out. It almost sounded like...

"Riley! Riley! Get up!" a voice shouted. The boy being called grumbled something as he was shaken by his mother. "I know you're a deep sleeper, but this is just ridiculous," she muttered. The aproned woman pushed up her sleeves as she ceremoniously inserted her finger into her mouth. She held it up dramatically before slowly bringing it toward the sleeping boy's form. She crept up by his head and quickly stuck her finger into the boy's ear.

Riley woke with a yelp and slipped off the bed as his muscles contracted randomly with a thud. He lay there, dazed, for a few moments before he sat up as he rubbed his sore head. "Oww...," he muttered as he winced at the pain. He thrashed as he attempted to disentangle himself from the covers that seemed to have attempted to strangle him. "Mooooom... I wanted to sleep today," he whined, "I stayed up late last night."

"That's your fault," his mother said pointedly before rolling her eyes, "I have something important for you to do, that's why I woke you up." She raised her eyebrow at Riley muttering something under his breath, so he stopped. "I need you to find a woman with a green hat. She'll probably be on the overlook since she's not from town. Her name's Bianca and she's going to give you something important!" she said excitedly. Riley looked at her unamused; whatever it was, it couldn't be important enough to interrupt his sleep. "Now go! Shoo!" she called out as she pulled him up and pushed him toward his dresser.

Riley put on his clothes disgruntledly and as soon as they were on, she threw his bag at him and ushered him toward the door. "But, I want to watch TV!" he said as he was pushed out the door. The door slammed behind him with an odd finality. Promptly, a crowd of people wearing green hats of various style walked past. Riley groaned exasperatedly. "Tourists," he muttered. Whenever they came in groups to Aspertia, mostly for the view, they always wore some odd clothing that made them stand out. He seemed a bit unlucky with this group. He made a disgruntled sigh before he leaned back against the door. He was a little older than 16 and one of the three teenagers in the town. The town wasn't very big, but it had a pokemon center and many two-story houses, his wasn't one of them though. It wasn't like it was, what was it called... Nuvima, no, Nuvema Town or anything; but it definitely wasn't your Castelia or Nimbasa City. His stomach broke his reverie by reminding him that he hadn't eaten breakfast yet.

He began to walk toward the house next door. He stumbled up to the door and twisted the knob. The door was unlocked like usual; almost nobody locked their doors in Aspertia. Riley offhandedly wondered if it was a small town thing or an Unovan thing before he wandered into the two story house. He moved through the foyer into the kitchen where he opened the fridge and dug through its contents. He heard a deep sigh behind him, but kept looking through the food.

"Don't take the leftovers in the white container, they're mine. If you touch them, I'll break your kneecaps."

"Mmhm..." Riley waved off the brunette girl and snagged an apple from the fridge before plopping down on the couch beside her. He grabbed the remote from its place on arm of the couch, flipping to the Battle Channel before settling into his seat.

_"Hello! It's time for the "What's That?" show, where we talk about wonderful items!"_

The brunette turned up her head from the book she was reading, turning to her sudden visitor and fixing him with a knowing glance.

"Did your mom kick you out of the house again?"

"Yep."

"You didn't get breakfast, did you?"

"Nope."

The brunette muttered something unintelligible to the boy watching TV before returning to her book. The boy stared at the lighted screen, his attention toward the outside world diminishing with every second. He spaced off for an unknown amount of time before a yelp caught his attention. He snapped out of his stupor to see that a backpack had been thrown at the girl sitting with her book.

"Yes, yes. I'll tell her, Aurea. Goodbye." There was a beep before the woman spoke again, "Riley! You're over here already! Good." The indomitable Mrs. Joy stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor. The stylishly dressed woman held a X-transceiver in her hand and had the other on her hip. "You know where you're going, so go!"

A few moments passed and the two teenagers found themselves unceremoniously thrown from the house. "I'm blaming you. Whatever it was, it's your fault," the brunette mumbled, rubbing her nose that was still sore from the thrown backpack.

"Whatever, _Iphigenia_. I have no idea what they're doing either," Riley said as he rolled his eyes.

The brunette punched him in the shoulder before speaking, "It's Jen! Get it right for once." She crossed her arms and looked away, "_I_ don't know because my mother tells me nothing; _you_don't know because you probably weren't paying attention when your mother told you what you were supposed to be doing. So, I'm blaming you." Jen punctuated each you with a harder poke in the boy's chest before she tossed her long hair and made to walk away. She walked down the street and prepared to turn the corner before she stopped with an unhappy expression on her face. "Oh great, him," she said exasperatedly.

Since she didn't seem to be stomping off in a huff anymore, Riley walked over to catch up to her. His eyes lit up when he saw who was coming. "Jack!" he called out. The dark, spiky haired boy that completed the trio of teenaged youths in town grinned. They gave each other a high-five before Jack looked at Jen mischievously.

"I got a new one for you!" he said, "So, Iphigenia? More like Iphi_her_nia!"

"Burned!" Riley called out before he high-fived Jack again. They broke out in loud laughter as the brunette looked completely unamused at the display.

She fixed both boys with withering glares. "If you two are quite _finished_..."

"Not a chance!" Jack smirked, sticking his tongue out. The girl glared at the boy with visible wishes that he would die a horrible death. Luckily for Jack, a smaller girl came running up to them.

"Jaaaaack!" his sister called out as she skidded to a stop next to them, "You still have chores to do! If you don't get back soon, you'll have to do mine too!" After that announcement, the little girl bolted off with her sandals slapping against the pavement loudly as her form faded into the distance.

"Oh shoot. Well, I'll see you later. Mom usually means it when she says things like that," the dark haired boy continued before he dashed off after his sister.

"Aww...," Riley whined as his friend ran off, "Now what do we do?"

"Beats me, brainiac," Jen snapped, "Aren't you supposed to know where we're going?"

Riley paused for a few seconds with an unhappy look on his face before he spoke, "That was a rhetorical question. And all I can remember is something about a lady with a green hat. I was half asleep when she told me; what more do you want from me?"

"Ugh, typical." Jen threw her arms up, sighing gustily before starting down the path again. "Well, if we're looking for someone, they're going to be in town. We might as well start looking."

Riley ran to catch up to the quickly retreating figure. "She said something else... something about not being from town? That's all I can think of."

"If she's not from here, she's probably a tourist...," Jen's eyes lit up, speeding up her pace. "That's it! Think, Riley, what's the most touristy place in town?"

Riley jogged a bit as the increase in pace surprised him, "The overlook in the north part of town? That's where most people come here for."

"Exactly! Come on, we'll probably find her there!" she said before she began to run, "See? You're not completely hopeless, just mostly hopeless!"

"Thanks! Hey, wait a second...," the blonde haired boy thought for a second before he spoke again, "Hey! Wait up!" He dashed after the girl that ran off into the distance, greatly outpacing him.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ha! I totally beat you!" Riley called out as he panted heavily. He leaned on the railing of the stairs as the girl across from him shook her head violently.

"No way! You only won because you cheated! You can't push people to get past them!" she called back.

"I only tapped you! You stumbled over and a big deal about it, but I barely touched you!" Riley exclaimed.

"You know what, _whatever_. We're here now, so let's just get going." She started up the stairs with an indignant sigh. Having caught his breath, Riley followed suit, triumphant smile still fixed onto his face. A few flights of stairs later, they reached the top. At the sound of their footsteps, a blond girl perked up, turning around towards the pair.

"Oh, excuse me!" She jogged lightly to meet them, one hand holding a lime beanie to her head, and the other wrapped around some sort of case. "Would you two happen to know a boy named Riley? I'm supposed to meet him, but I'm afraid I don't know this town very well..."

He grinned slightly before he stated, "Never heard of him," with a deadpan expression plastered on his face. Jen gave an exasperated groan before smacking Riley on the back of his head. He cried out briefly in pain before he burst out laughing. The blonde girl who was only slightly older than the two looked at them with a confused expression. She obviously had no idea what was going on.

"This is Riley, please forgive his idiocy," she stated as the boy's laughter gradually died down.

The blonde's face lit up with a smile, "Oh, great! I'll take it that you're Iphige-"

"Call me Jen. Please."

"Ooooor... Phi-Phi," Riley snickered behind her.

"Not if you want to keep your head on your shoulders, you won't!" She growled at Riley, temporarily forgetting about the utterly bewildered blonde before them.

"Umm... so yeah! Riley and Jen! My name's Bianca! I'm here to ask you if you'll help me and the Professor fill out these Pokedexes! You probably know what goes along with that and-,"

"Wait, what's a Pokedex? I remember hearing about it somewhere, but...," Riley interrupted.

"It's like a Pokemon encyclopedia. Really, Riley, you need to wake up occasionally and listen when people talk to you. How do you expect to succeed in life, let alone keep yourself alive, if you don't take some responsibility and-"

"We'll do it!" Riley said, tuning out the rambling brunette, "So... what exactly goes along with it?"

"I'll give you a pokemon of course!" Bianca giggled, "It's like your parents didn't tell you anything about it. But that would be silly, of course they would tell you something. Umm... right?" The blonde looked at the pained faces of the two teenagers with a bit of confusion.

Riley changed his pained expression to one of excitement, "Neat! I've always wanted to get out of this town! They won't let you out the gate without a pokemon and Jack's has had one for almost forever!" He rubbed his hands together before he looked around. "Uh... so where are they?"

"I've got them right here!" Bianca presented the case with a bit of a flourish, popping open the lid to reveal three pokeballs inside. "Now, be careful... The one you choose will be your-"

Riley interrupted her spiel by quickly picking one with a green symbol on it. "I'll take this one!" he exclaimed.

"But, don't you want to-" Bianca said a bit confusedly before she was interrupted again.

"Wow thank you so much! I - Hey! I wanted that one!" Jen whined, her voiced edged with disappointment. She gave a glare, grabbing the pokeball emblazoned with a red mark. "I guess I'll take _this_one, then," she said with a pointed malice.

"Wait... isn't that...," Riley muttered before Bianca spoke again.

"Well... I guess you've chosen! Why don't you release your new partners and give them a nickname!" Bianca said excitedly with a bit of a twitch.

"Alright!" Riley pumped his fist excitedly before tossing his pokeball into the air. "Go, this one!" he called out as Jen facepalmed at the cliche. The annoyance left her face as she examined her own pokeball with thinly veiled wonder, tossing out her own pokemon in time with Riley. A flash of light signified the release of a pokemon and a pair of similar pokemon appeared in front of them.

"Oooh! I know the name of this one," Riley stated, "It's a Snivy, right?"

"Umm... yes," Bianca said worriedly, "But why are there two of them? The pokeballs must have been mislabeled... If you want I can-"

"Oh no, I don't mind one bit!" Jen said hurriedly, "I'm perfectly happy with Snivy!"

"Hmm... I think I'll name you Eliwood!" Riley said excitedly, oblivious to the other two. The Snivy gave him a pointed stare before he nodded and jumped for his leg. The pokemon slithered up his leg and onto his shoulder where it stayed, slightly curled around his arm, looking ready for adventure. "Whoa! Cool!" Riley exclaimed.

Jen crouched down, gazing at her pokemon thoughtfully. "How about Simon?" The pokemon looked up at her before turning up its nose in distaste. "What, not good enough for you? Well ex-_cuuse_me, Smugleaf!" That caught the pokemon's attention, as it began looking contemplative before nodding curtly in approval. "...You're not serious." Jen sweatdropped, before noticing that the pokemon was gazing at her humorlessly. "Well, I've heard stranger nicknames. Welcome aboard, Smugleaf!" She smiled, standing up and brushing the dirt off her leggings.

"Okay! Those nicknames are fine!" Bianca said before rummaging through her bag, "Here are your trainer cards and Pokedexes... Your Pokedex can be used as a trainer card as well if you can't find it. I know it helped me a lot when I was traveling!" She handed them each a card with a blank square where a picture would go and a number on the front. Riley turned his over to see that another empty box was on the back. She then followed it with a sleek handheld device. "If you take those to the gatehouse to route 19, you can get those finished! All the other paperwork is done, so you're good to go! Of course, I have to teach you the basics of being a trainer first!" she continued.

Riley nodded vaguely before he heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind them. He turned around to see Jack mounting the top of the stairs. "I finally got those chores finished and I came to find you as fast as I- Whoa! Is that..."

"It is!" Riley replied. He fistbumped Jack before he began speaking.

"Awesome! But, I can't let you leave without trying a battle first!" Jack exclaimed. "I'll battle you first," he said to Riley, "Then you next," he said pointing to Jen.

The Snivy on Riley's shoulder sprung off and landed a few yards away, its eyes blazing. "I think Eliwood is ready! Whenever you're prepared we can battle!" Riley burst out excitedly.

Jack responded by grinning and releasing his own pokemon. "Let's go Baconator! We can win!" The Tepig snorted as it pawed at the ground with its front hoof.

Riley prepared himself to battle, but he realized a problem. "Uh... what moves do you know?" he asked the Snivy who gave him an odd look.

"You can use the Pokedex to check!" Bianca called helpfully from the sidelines. Riley took out the device from his pack and pointed it at Eliwood.

"Snivy! The Grass Snake pokemon, being exposed to sunlight can-" the machine blared out in a mechanical voice.

"Come on, I want the moves! Not a description!" Riley interrupted. It seemed to work as the machine whirred for a second before it spoke again.

"Target's moves: Tackle, Leer," the Pokedex responded.

"Okay, let's try Leer!" Riley exclaimed. The Snivy in front of him began to glare at the Tepig disconcertingly until the Fire Pig pokemon shivered a bit under the intensity of the glare.

"Hmph, let's respond with a Tail Whip!" Jack commanded. Baconator jumped forward and wagged his curly tail back and forth, causing Eliwood to look a little confused. The Snivy looked back at Riley for instruction.

"Okay, I'm guessing Leer was a stat-reducing move! Use Tackle!" Riley commanded. Eliwood's eyes glinted with excitement before he dashed forward with decent speed and used his body to knock the Tepig to the ground. The Snivy then jumped back from Baconator and prepared for a response. But the Tepig merely wagged his tail lazily again without any instruction from his owner. Although Jack didn't seem to mind as he didn't look unhappy.

This series of actions continued for a while, so Jen turned her attention from the battle after noticing a flicker of green in the corner of her vision. Her Snivy slithered around excitedly, watching the battle with a fiery expression in its eyes.

"You're raring to go, aren't you?" Smugleaf gave an enthusiastic cry, nodding quickly before fixing its gaze back onto the brawl.

Eliwood took one final blow against the Tepig and he toppled over with a sad sounding squeal. The Snivy made a small incline of its head to the fallen opponent before he returned to Riley's side and made a small salute. Riley picked up the grass type pokemon and placed him on his shoulder.

"Great work, partner. Take a breather." Jack returned his Tepig to its pokeball before turning his attention to his opponent.

"Wow, you're hot stuff Riley! I'm glad I have a trainer like you to count on!" Jack grinned, running his finger through his spiky hair. "I'm gonna heal up my partner now," He turned to Jen as he said this, his happy smile turning cocky and confident despite his previous loss, "but don't think I've forgotten about our battle. Meet me back up here in 15 minutes, and I'll show you what a real trainer battles like!" With that, he turned and calmly made his way down the stairs.

"How can he be so confident after that? That was a _lousy_battle. He never even got to attack!" Jen stared down the stairway where the black-haired boy just made his exit.

"Heh, I was just too good for him! Though with all those Tail Whips, if he had attacked me I could've been toast!" Riley laughed, patting his Snivy affectionately on the head. "We did a great job, buddy!"

"I'm willing to bet he won't try the same strategy twice… Are you up for a challenge, Smugleaf?" Snivy smirked in response, his small frame exuding confidence. She turned back to the stairway, a thoughtful expression on her face. "I hope his Tepig is alright. It did look pretty beat."

"Oh, it'll be fine!" Bianca chimed in, still slightly dazed from the chaotic turn of events. "Pokemon that are fainted just need a quick rest at the Pokemon Center and they'll be as good as new!" She didn't quite look either of the new trainers in the eye as they waited for the older one to come back. Jen noticed it, but didn't say anything as she didn't want to provoke any argument that could get her pokemon rescinded.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting!" Jack's voice rang out across the overlook. "I hope you're ready to lose, Phi-Phi!"

Jen gave a nervous glance down to her Snivy, whose confidence was back with full force. Sufficiently reassured, Jen stepped forward and unwaveringly met Jack's gaze.

"Bring it on! Let's do this, Smugleaf!"

"Baconator! Time for Round Two!" A flash of light announced the entrance of his newly-rejuvenated Tepig, which stamped at the ground with vigor.

"Alright, let's start this off with a Leer!"

"I won't make the same mistake twice, Phi-Phi!" Jack scoffed, "Hit 'em with a Tackle!" Baconator charged forward rapidly, knocking Smugleaf off its feet onto the ground. A second later, it picked itself back up, shaking off the attack with a determined stare.

"Two can play at that game, Jack! Hit him with a Tackle of your own!"

"Keep at it, Tepig! Show them your strength!"

The two pokemon charged forward at each other, crashing together with increased fervor. As the battle continued on, Jen noticed with a bit of apprehension that her Snivy seemed to be wearing down faster than his Tepig.

"Hang in there, Smugleaf! You can do this!" The Snivy staggered forward, eyes half-lidded as it focused its attention back onto his opponent. The Tepig's exhaustion was evident as well, but it seemed to realize that the match was going in its favor.

"Oh, what a shame," Jack taunted, his face pulled into a mock-frown. "Your Snivy's not gonna last another hit! Let's finish this quick, shall we?"

"Smugleaf! Put all you've got into one last Tackle attack!"

Baconator began its final assault, its movements slower but resolute. Recognizing this opening, Smugleaf used its superior speed to swerve behind the attacking Tepig, striking it down with a strong blow. With a weak cry, Baconator collapsed to the ground, overcome with exhaustion.

"Smugleaf, we won!" Jen called out jubilantly before recalling her weakened pokemon. "Time for some well-deserved rest."

"You almost lost!" Riley called out, "Your Snivy doesn't even look like it could take a stiff breeze!"

"I didn't ask you," Jen retorted. Riley prepared a response, but Bianca stepped up to interrupt the building argument.

"Well... That was fun!" she said excitedly as she bounced slightly on her heels, making the green beanie on her head become slightly off centered. "I need to teach you two about being a trainer though! Follow me!" The professor's assistant left the outlook and picked her way down the stairs carefully. Riley looked around to find that Jack had already left to take care of Baconator and that Jen looked like she wasn't finished with him.

"She _is _waiting for us to follow her," Riley stated before he dashed after the retreating figure.

"Hey!" Jen called out, "Don't run after her, she's not even moving that fast!" The girl ran after the other pokemon trainer, only a few feet behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Riley was about ready to fall asleep. The blonde professor's assistant had been rambling about the pokemon center for close to 15 minutes. He wasn't sure how she was able to say so much about the building. It wasn't like there was much to talk about there. The pokemart sold stuff, the PC stored stuff, and the nurse healed stuff. It wasn't that hard. Although Jen was fervently taking notes in a notepad that she had gotten from somewhere. "Where did you even get that?" Riley said in a volume that almost drowned out the excited voice across from them.

"Shush! I'm taking notes," Jen hissed back, "And I got it from my pack, where else would I get it." Bianca's excited stream of words eventually came to a stop and Riley let out a sigh of relief.

"Now I'm going to show you how to catch a pokemon!" Bianca continued, "I'm sure you've seen how to on TV, but it's nothing like how it is in reality!" The woman left the center without another word, without looking back to see if they were following.

Riley followed her out with Jen behind him to find Jack's sister standing in front of the pokemon center. She pushed three identical objects in his hand before dashing off without a word. "Hmm... she never talks to me. I wonder why," he muttered as he looked at the things. There seemed to be a latch on the blue cover, so Riley pressed it and it flipped open. "Oh, it's a Town Map," he said. The screen held an image of Unova that you could tap to get more information about an area. There was a piece of paper taped to one of them, so he pulled it off and read it.

"Okay, so these are ours," Riley began, "But we need to give the third one to Jack if we're going to keep it. And he already left for training."

Jen sighed as she took the piece of equipment, "Figures... This is nice, but I don't want to have to deal with him again." They both looked away from the new technology in their hands and found that Bianca was already walking down the path to Route 19. Riley briefly glanced at Jen before he ran after the blonde woman. Jen followed him and they reached the gate out of the city just as Bianca exited out the other side.

"Riley!" the guard exclaimed from his desk. "I thought I've told you that you can't-" He was interrupted by the boy smugly taking a pokeball out of his belt and releasing the Snivy inside. "Oh... Well, go ahead then," the guard muttered.

Eliwood gave Riley a questioning look before he slithered up to his shoulder again. He made a noise that seemed displeased and Riley wondered what it meant. Jen poked his shoulder and pointed to the other side of the gate to remind him to go forward. They started again before they were interrupted again. "Wait!" the guard exclaimed again, "Here, have these." The guard held out a potion to each of them. "Good luck!" he called out after the two grabbed the free item and dashed off. Riley slowed down next to the electronic board that was a fixture of every gate, but Jen pulled him away from it.

"We can't keep Bianca waiting forever, so let's go!" Jen said, tugging harder at the now pouting trainer.

"Fiiiiiiine...," Riley whined as he allowed himself to be dragged out of the building. The trainers found Bianca standing just outside the long grass that blocked the route.

"Hey! I was wondering where you two were!" Bianca exclaimed, making both of the trainers give her a dagger-filled look. She seemed to not notice it; as she turned around, gleefully walking through the grass. "Now, you just walk through the grass until you find a pokemon! I just have to find one. If you run, you're more likely to find one, but I don't really want to do that right now."

Jen had taken her notes back out and Riley had stopped paying attention once again. He couldn't handle any more lessons and saw something glint in the grass. He wandered toward it, passing Jen and Bianca who were both oblivious to him walking away. Eliwood made another unhappy sounding noise as if he wasn't sure about leaving the other two, but Riley ignored it. He found a Potion laying on its side where the glint of light had come from. "Neat!" he called out as he picked it up and stuffed it into his pack. He continued through the grass, looking for other goodies when he heard an angry sounding chatter. He looked up to see a Patrat dashing toward him on its short legs. Eliwood sprung off Riley's shoulder and stood in the wild pokemon's way. He took out a vine from what seemed like nowhere and slapped the Patrat with it with great force. The pokemon jerked back from the blow before collapsing.

"Oh, whoops," Riley muttered, "That was my first catch. Can't get another one because of those rules... Ah well, wasn't that much of a loss anyway if it would go down in only one hit." He turned to the grass pokemon at his feet and crouched down. "That was awesome! Where'd you learn that trick from?" he asked the Snivy. It swelled with pride briefly before it seemed to put the emotion down and salute to him once again. "Oh, lighten up. You can show emotion," Riley said as he rolled his eyes before changing topic quickly as was normal for him, "That's... Vine Whip, right? I saw it used in a battle once." The Snivy nodded before climbing back up onto Riley's shoulder.

"Alright, I think I got that all down!" Jen looked up from her notepad, smiling graciously at Bianca. "Did you get that too, Riley?" She waited a few seconds, quirking an eyebrow when she didn't get a response. She turned towards him, or rather where she thought he would be. She scanned the route for a few more seconds, finally spotting a tuft of blond hair peeking from the grasses further along the path.

"Hey! When did you run off? It's not polite to just up and leave when someone's taking the time to- eek!" Her tirade was interrupted as her foot snagged against a decidedly furry obstacle, sending her crashing into the ground just beyond the grass. She brought herself to her knees, rubbing her hands ruefully. She sent a glare back behind her, only to have that glare met by a set of red and black eyes. The Patrat yawned sleepily, disgruntled at being woken from its peaceful slumber but more or less unfazed.

"Oh yay, a Patrat," Jen grumbled, shifting nervously under the pokemon's unyielding gaze, "Well, you look laid-back enough. Let's give this a go!" She rose to her feet quickly, releasing her Snivy in a flash of light.

"Tackle attack, Smugleaf!" The pokemon snapped to attention, locking eyes with his opponent before crashing into it full-force. The Patrat let out a startled cry, but recovered and countered with a harsh Leer that made the Snivy shiver slightly.

"Once more, tackle attack!" Smugleaf dashed forward again, knocking the Patrat off its feet. The Patrat didn't move to attack, instead continuing its baleful stare at it brought itself back upright.

"I think that should do it! I throw a pokeball now, right?" She mumbled to herself, digging through her bag before drawing out a red and white sphere. She pressed the white button in the center, lobbing it gently at the weakened pokemon. The ball flew forward, enveloping the Patrat in a blue flash of light before landing in the grass with an underwhelming plop. Jen watched the pokeball carefully as it shook in the grass before at once becoming still again. She continued to watch the ball for a few seconds afterwards, as if waiting for something to happen.

"So..." She reached out tentatively, grabbing the capsule from its resting spot, "What do I do now?"

"Give her a nickname!" Bianca piped in, walking up beside the startled trainer. "Oh, and good job, by the way!"

"...Thanks." Jen chuckled nervously, returning her gaze to the now-occupied pokeball. She pulled out her pokedex, flicking through to Patrat's entry in a futile search for inspiration. She stared for a few more seconds before shoving the device back into her pocket.

"Looker. Your name will be Looker. Yeah, that'll do just fine!" Jen called out. Before a voice sounded from the distance.

"It's not very polite to trip over your own pokemon either!" Riley shouted back after he saw Jen finished with the capture of her pokemon. He stuck out his tongue at the figure in the distance before starting off in the grass again. He continued down the path until a rocky cliff protruded into the road, causing it to bend slightly. Riley didn't give the rock a second look as he headed toward the gate just past it.

"You there!" Riley skidded to a halt as a man appeared seemingly out of nowhere, landing on the ground a few feet in front of the boy. He let out an undignified yelp as he attempted to recover from the shock.

The man grinned with a slight maniacal twinge before he spoke, "You must be one of the new trainers from Aspertia!" Riley noted his impressive, red, spiky hair before the man continued, "If you're taking the gym challenge, you look like you have quite a bit to go!"

Riley sputtered briefly in protest before another voice interrupted him, "Ha! I've caught up to you, you're lead doesn't mean much when... who is this?" Jen stepped into view behind the other trainer as she noticed the man in front of them.

"Ah, and you must be the second! Perfect!" He gave her a once-over, circling around the pair before nodding slightly in approval. "Yes, yes! I sense potential in you two!"

"Umm... who are you exactly? I swear I've seen you before." Riley stared blankly at the lively man, who blinked slightly in surprise at the sudden question, "Maybe I saw you on TV? Something about a Volcarona..."

"Oh, of course, of course. How rude of me not to introduce myself! My name is Alder!" A wide grin broke across the man's face. "One of my goals is to tell people about how wonderful it is to walk toward the future together with Pokemon!" Alder suddenly bridged the gap between himself and the pair. "Come with me, you two! If you intend to take this journey with your partners, you're going to need a bit of training!" With that, he continued down the path to Floccesy Town, leaving behind the pair of slightly stunned teenagers.

"He seems... eccentric." Jen decided.

"Just a bit," Riley replied, choosing his words carefully. "I swear he was on TV before, I just can't remember why. I must have been doing something else while I was watching. Maybe I was about to fall asleep..." Riley shrugged and walked after the man, "You coming?" he asked Jen as she didn't move.

"Yeah, whatever," she replied as she walked after him.


	4. Chapter 4

The two disgruntled trainers made their way through the somewhat rocky landscape of Route 20. They were both unhappy with the events that had happened prior. Although, they were unhappy for different reasons.

Previously, they had made their way into Floccesy Town, catching up with Alder outside the Pokemon Center that was just inside the entrance. After following Alder to his home in something akin to a wild goose chase, they were turned away at the entrance. Someone had called Alder to inform him about the pair's previous obligations, prompting the man to send them on their way, postponing their promised training and frankly trying their patience. A few minutes into their trek down route 20, they had caught a Sewaddle and a Purrloin that went to Riley and Jen respectively. Riley had named his catch Paula without much enthusiasm and Jen named hers Wylie, afterwards taunting Riley about not getting a catch that he wanted. After a renewed bout of bickering, the pair fell into silence again. The silence was short-lived, however, as not soon after their catches were made Riley began to grow irritated from boredom.

"Ugh... where are we anyway? Virbank City is that way, I'm pretty sure at least, so what's even up in this direction?" Riley asked in a petulant whine.

"Honestly, we have Town Maps for a reason. You'd think that you'd remember that fact, seeing as that's the whole reason we're searching up here in the first place." She pulled out the aforementioned device, fiddling with the screen for a few moments as she walked. "Ah, here we go. There's a ranch just up this path, so we might as well stop there to search."

"Whatever...," Riley grumbled, "I can't believe we can't go anywhere useful since that jerk was standing in the middle of the path. Virbank's the only big city in this part of Unova and he won't let us go there!"

"It's probably for good reason. I suppose the wild Pokemon around there are too strong to handle for Trainers without their first badge." There was a slight pause, and Jen huffed lightly in annoyance. "Still, it is disappointing."

They walked in silence for several more minutes before the sky clouded up almost in the blink of an eye. "Oh, is that a storm?" Riley asked, "It's kind of weird one hasn't happened yet, considering it's the middle of summer. Maybe it will be one with lightning!" With this statement, the clouds opened their floodgates and it promptly began to pour without any warning.

"You and your big mouth!" Jen grumbled, digging around in her pack for an umbrella.

Riley jumped at the feel of rain and dashed under the umbrella just as Jen had found and opened it. "I know what you're going to say, so shut up in advance," he said, cutting off any retort.

"Sure, sure, whatever you - eek!" Jen yelped in surprise as a boom of thunder echoed across the landscape.

"Awesome!" Riley cried out, "Although, we should probably find somewhere to wait until this passes..." They scurried toward a wooden gate that had revealed itself as they travelled closer to it and looked fairly old, similar to the buildings in the previous town. They went under the arch that proudly announced "Floccesy Ranch" and made for a building that wasn't too far beyond it.

Jen managed to reach the door of the building first, leaving Riley behind in her flight away from the thunder and lightning outside. She hammered on the door and waited for a response. A middle aged woman wearing slightly dirty clothes and a bandanna to keep the hair out of her eyes opened the door. She seemed slightly surprised to see anyone out in the storm. "Hello, what can I do for you two?" she asked.

"E-excuse me, ma'am," Jen shivered slightly, bracing herself against the wind, "We just got caught up in this bad weather, so I was wondering if it wouldn't be too much trouble to-"

"Can we come inside?" Riley asked, interrupting Jen's statement as he got closer to the front door.

"Sure! We usually get trainers in here during storms," the woman said, "I'm a bit surprised anyone is out in this, considering the news has been saying it would happen for a few days, but come on in!" She moved aside and let the two trainers into the house. "Come to think of it, there's another trainer in here right now! He was training around here for a while and was too shy to knock on the door. Maybe he was just too proud to ask? Well, I got him to come in anyhow." The woman escorted them into a warm living room where a familiar looking black-haired trainer was wrapped in a blanket on a couch with a cup of something steamy in his hands.

"Hi Jack!" Riley exclaimed excitedly. Jack looked up and waved at them with a somewhat mischievous grin toward Jen.

"What are you two doing all the way out here?" he asked.

"Giving you the Town Map you forgot at home, that's what," Jen said testily, "You should be more careful about misplacing your things. We had to come all the way out here to give you this and we got caught in a storm on the way up here." Jen grumpily dug through her back and thrust it into Jack's chest.

Jack grunted as he caught the device and prevented it from doing too much damage to him. "Phi-Phi at her best, am I right?" he directed toward Riley with a maddening grin. Or at least maddening to Jen. She fumed visibly and the woman that escorted them in sidled out of the room to avoid the inevitable explosion.

"Don't call me that!" she yelled with murder in her eyes, "I will break your kneecaps!"

Jack guffawed before he spoke again, "Come on, that's not how trainers get over anger." He grinned a smug smile briefly, "They use pokemon battles to do that."

"If it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get!" Jen growled, turning on her heel and making her way back outside.

Jack smirked before he spoke to Riley, "I wonder how long it will take her to notice it's raining outside with that anger that she's preoccupied with." Riley shrugged before the woman came back into the room.

"Where'd your friend go?" she asked, placing down a tray with two cups of the same drink that Jack was drinking, "I made up a cup of tea for both of you, but she can't drink it if she's not here!"

"She's... cooling off," Riley said. He picked up the mug of tea and blew on it before he took a sip of it. He seemed to think a while before he asked, "Would you have anywhere that we could do a battle? We want to have one, but I don't want to do it in the rain."

The woman thought for a second before she nodded. "You can use the barn," she answered, "I'd have to watch you though, there's some expensive stuff in there I can't have you breaking."

Jen had realized a few seconds after storming out of the rancher's house that it would difficult, if not impossible to have a decent battle in the weather. Unwilling to admit her mistake, and risk being mocked yet again by a certain black-haired nuisance, she stayed outdoors for some time, watching the leaves of the trees blow around in the oppressive wind. She could faintly hear the cries of Mareep from inside a nearby stable, along with what seemed to sound like a trainer battle.

Her curiosity peaked, and her anger subsided, Jen stepped out from under the trees she'd been using for shelter and back into the house, brushing off the dampness that had collected on her hair and shoulders.

"Oh, there you are." The bandanna-clad woman approached her, propping open the door she'd just appeared from. "Your friends just got finished with a Pokemon battle in the barn. I got Jack's partner all fixed up, so he's up for a match if you are."

"Alright, thank you," Jen nodded politely at the woman. She headed toward a doorway that the woman pointed out and found the two other trainers chatting amongst themselves. Oddly, Riley had a fairly large sandwich in his hands that he was munching on.

Jack noticed Jen first and waved. "Hey! You ready for that battle yet?" he called out amongst the sound of the rain pounding against the roof of the high-ceilinged barn.

"Oh, I'm ready!" Jen called back, making her way towards the makeshift battlefield. She turned toward Riley briefly, "How'd your battle go? From what the woman told me, you won."

Riley was half through chewing a bite of his sandwich, but didn't seem to care as he began to speak through his mouthful of food. "Ih wuh-"

"Finish chewing before you speak," Jen interrupted with an expression of slight disgust.

Riley chewed the bite of his sandwich quickly and comically swallowed the large mouthful with an odd expression on his face, "It was easy! Eliwood only got hit once!" The named Snivy appeared out from Riley's jacket and went up to his shoulder, "No, I don't need you to do anything right now... I was just saying you're awesome!" The Snivy looked at him oddly before it retreated back into the warmth of his jacket.

"Good to hear." Jen replied, attention firmly set on her opponent. Jack tossed his pokeball up and down in his hand, confidence seemingly unshaken by the repeated loss. "What can I say, Riley's the real deal!"

"Thanks, Jack! You'll have to tell me how the battle goes!" Riley stated suddenly, "I have to go do a chore for the ranch lady. One of her Herdier is missing and I offered to go look for it since she's pretty cool." With that, Riley dashed out of the barn into the storm. The rain had tapered off slightly, but it was still above the level of a drizzle.

"Missing?" Jack looked suddenly alarmed, but quickly turned his gaze back towards Jen. "I'll just have to beat you quickly, then!"

"Let's get it started!" With those words exchanged, Jack quickly sent out his Tepig, who called out excitedly at the prospect of a battle.

Jen glanced down at the three Pokeballs in her belt, starting slightly when she realized who was out front.

"Wylie isn't nearly strong enough to face off against him yet!" she said quietly to herself, reaching for the second ball in the row.

"Smugleaf, go!"

"Not sending out your first? Well, that's a free hit for me! Tackle attack, Baconator!" The Tepig rushed forward, slamming into the Snivy's stomach before dashing back into position.

"You're all good, Smugleaf! Send him your own Tackle!"

"Keep at it, Baconator! You've got this in the bag!"

A few rounds later, and both pokemon were looking worse for wear. Jen gave a concerned glance towards her Smugleaf before taking another pokeball from her belt.

"Smugleaf, fall back! Looker, hold him off!" Her Snivy slithered weakly to her side, while a flash of light announced the entrance of her Patrat. The Tepig snorted in response, shaking its tail lazily at its new opponent.

"Just hang tight, Looker! Try and dodge his attacks!" With that, Jen turned her attention to her injured Snivy, quickly procuring a Potion that she began to spray onto its wounds.

"Using your Patrat as cannon fodder? How noble of you, Phi-Phi!" Jack scoffed, "Mow 'em down, partner!"

Jen turned her attention back to the battle in time to see his Tepig crash full force into Looker, sending her clear across the barn floor.

"Looker! Are you alright?" Jen called out, taking a step towards her fallen pokemon.

A heavy silence filled the air as Jen waited, listening for a reply.

None came.

"...Looker?" She continued forward, dread slowly pervading her thoughts. Something wasn't right. She was just fainted - that had to be it. There was no other option. There was just no way.

Jen dropped to her knees in front of her Patrat, hands reaching out to cradle the injured pokemon. Her hand jerked back after it touched something wet, and she brought it up to her face to see a dark redness staining her fingertips.

"...Wh...what?" Jen whispered, voice wavering as she stared at her hand, eyes widening in abject horror as her disjointed thoughts finally connected.

"Looker!" The tears that had been collecting in her eyes overflowed freely now as held her Patrat, stomach turning as her hands met warm blood matting on cold fur. "No no no no this isn't happening, this doesn't happen, this... this..." Her voice caught in her throat as she succumbed to sobs, losing herself in her grief.

The black-haired trainer stood in the background, his face a mask of horror. "But... this... no...," he muttered to himself as his Tepig acquired the same expression.

"Oh, honey...," Jen heard dimly as a arm was put over her shoulder, "I hoped this wouldn't happen to any of you three..." Jen didn't respond, but her sobs slowly began to subside as the woman rubbed comforting circles onto her back. After a few more moments of silence the woman spoke again, her voice hushed and laced with pity, "Would you like to put her to rest?" Jen nodded, rising slowly to her feet with a blank expression.

She looked around the barn to see that the other trainer had left. "Don't blame him," the woman warned, "He blames himself for it which is worse than what you could possibly do to him."

"I.. I don't" Jen mumbled weakly, teary eyes downcast, "It's not his fault, it's... it's mine..." Her voice broke as she turned away from the woman, breaking down once again in weak sobs.


End file.
